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Journaling was a form of venting for my mother. She wrote something about her day at least 5 out of 7 days. I don’t think she actually realized it at the time, but it became her escape. She wanted to document what was happening in her life. First it starts out with the everyday happenings, tending to the house and garden, having babies, getting the kids off to school etc. Then it became a way to identify situations that almost seemed unreal. It was like she was writing them d

Mike surprised me with a trip to Paris for our 40 th  anniversary. This was terribly exciting as we have not travelled to Europe except to meet a Mediterranean cruise 3 years ago and we did not have a great experience getting there due to airline delays.  Therefore, we decided to try and get a connecting flight anywhere except in the US.  Mike found that Icelandair connected in Reykjavik, Iceland and only had an hour layover.  Much better than the typical 3-5 hour layovers in

My husband Mike and I love to travel and have been some amazing places: From Iceland to Paris; Costa Rica to Canada; from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean, we have been blessed with some great opportunities. But nothing compares to my first pilgrimage in 2024. This was a whole different animal. I didn’t even know what a pilgrimage was until our neighbors invited us to walk El Camino in Spain with them. This is the last 100 kilometers of The Way (which is a movie referring t

I grew up in a family of highly educated overachievers. I have 3 siblings in the medical field, a professor, an attorney and 3 engineers (including my Dad). When it was time to go to college, I chose the only career I could find that required no math: Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis on Public Relations. Then I got real and studied and became a Certified Financial Planner in 1985 and still practice today. My point is, I was so blinded by what I didn’t want (math) th

I am what we call a cradle Catholic. That means I was born into the Catholic faith, not ‘born again’ as is popular in many Christian denominations. This could also mean I took my faith for granted. We went to Mass everyday with our school class and on Sundays with our family. It is just what we did. I attended Catholic grade school and high school, again no discussion, this is what we did. After my husband and I moved to Colorado and started a family, my mother came to help a

My very beginning in journalism was as a news reporter and writer in college. Then I had many jobs to survive, mostly in marketing. In my second career as a Certified Financial Planner® or CFP, I began teaching seminars at the local library and writing a finance column in the newspaper. I still write a monthly column on the economy and wealth building to this day. I hope it empowers others to make informed decisions. But financial education is not the only knowledge I think i

There is nothing more important than being a good steward of the life I was given. Being born into the family I was (lots about that in my mother’s biography, More Martha Than Mary ) and then having my own family, are pure, unadulterated gifts from our heavenly Father. My faith path, dedicated to Jesus Christ and his example, is the only thing that got me this far without going crazy, falling into depression, or just plain giving up. My immediate family, my wonderful husband

My mother was a writer and a storyteller. I don’t know if that is where I developed the desire to be constantly writing or not, but here I am, an author. I have always used writing as a way to pass on knowledge. I have been a financial columnist for 40 years and found that a 500-word column on a single topic was a good way to educate in small doses. I have been told I can make complex strategies simple, which is the topic of my next book. But first I am putting the finishing